


Visitor In The Night

by redcandle17



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-22
Updated: 2014-05-22
Packaged: 2018-01-26 02:39:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1671632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redcandle17/pseuds/redcandle17
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the dead of night it can be hard to tell what's a dream and what's real.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Visitor In The Night

**Author's Note:**

> This is intentionally quite creepy.

It’s dark when Sansa awakes. The sliver of moonlight from the window doesn’t reach the bed, but she still knows the identity of the man standing silent and motionless beside her. She would speak, but she doesn’t know what to say. He can’t have confused her room at the top of Maegor’s Holdfast with his room in White Sword Tower. And she doesn’t need to ask if he’s drunk because she can smell the wine on him. She waits for him to do something, anything. 

There’s a sigh and she feels the feather mattress shift as he sinks onto the bed. He just sits there for a long time, not touching her, and Sansa wonders if he thinks she’s sleeping. She starts to think maybe he’s not really there, maybe she’s asleep and dreaming so she reaches out to touch him. The wool of his tunic is scratchy and the arm beneath it is strong and solid and quite real. He grabs her hand before she can snatch it back and raises it to his lips. Sansa’s had her hand kissed before, by courteous young knights and by Joffrey, but it’d never felt this intimate. Maybe he’ll kiss her lips next, a real kiss. She holds her breath. But when his face moves down to hers, it’s her forehead he kisses. Then he’s up off the bed and out of the room. 

In the morning she remembers it only a little better than her dream about a snow fight with the Knight of Flowers in Winterfell’s godswood. Sansa manages to meet the Hound’s eyes for a brief moment as he escorts her to the Great Hall but there’s nothing there to tell her whether he was in her room, in her bed last night. _On my bed, not in it,_ she corrects herself, proud to be grown up enough to know the difference. She blushes at the thought and the Hound laughs at her and there’s no way she could ever ask him about it. That night she considers getting out of bed and barring her door after her maid leaves but she doesn’t.


	2. What Happens In The Dark

She never tells anyone, partly because she's not sure she doesn't dream it but mostly because it's _the Hound_. He's saved her life and given her advice and he talks to her like she was a person. Sansa couldn't get him in trouble. Besides, she's not sure anyone would believe her if she told. He's been Joff's sworn shield for years and everyone knows how loyal he is to the Lannisters, and she's a traitor's daughter.

He comes to her chambers late at night. Sometimes Sansa's already sleeping and she'll awaken to him petting her hair, but most nights she waits up for him. He usually tastes of wine. He talks those nights, telling her what a pretty girl she is and how sweet and he tells her about himself. The nights he's sober are the ones he stays silent and he scares her. 

It's not unpleasant, but she can never really enjoy it because she always wonders whether that will be the night he doesn't stop. She likes it best when he just lays beside her and puts his arm around her. That's nice. It makes Sansa feel safe. Sometimes she goes to sleep while he's holding her. He's never there when she awakens, though, and when he arrives to escort her to the king, there's nothing in his manner to remind her of what goes on between them in the dark.


	3. A Waking Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sandor visits Sansa at night.

She was such a pretty girl. Too young, he knew, but still so very pretty. And such a well-bred lady. She never called him dog even when he said she should. She was so _courteous_ , treating him with respect he didn’t deserve even though she wouldn’t look him in the face. 

He didn’t know why it was important that she look at his face; she only became even more terrified of him when he made her look at him. It was ridiculous to think she’d ever get used to his scars because he certainly wouldn’t want anyone who was burned like him. He couldn’t even stand the sight of his own reflection. On rare occasions he thought that he could have forgiven Gregor for the pain of the burning, but never for the ugliness that resulted from it. Gregor had made it impossible for the likes of Sansa Stark to ever want him. 

“Little bird.” He stroked her hair. She didn’t say anything, though her eyes were wide in the moonlight. He shouldn’t be in her bed chamber, sitting on her bed. He didn’t remember making the decision to come to her. He was drunk. It wasn’t his night to guard the king and he’d gotten drunk as he usually did. He’d been making his way to his cell in White Sword Tower, thinking about her, and he’d wandered here without realizing it. “Pretty little bird,” he said again. She had such pretty hair, silky and sweet-smelling and a captivating color when there was light to see it. 

He stretched out beside her and her breathing quickened. He slid an arm around her and pulled her close. Her heart was beating so hard he could hear it, feel it. She was scared. He wished she wasn’t but he wasn’t _gallant_ enough to leave her. Tonight he preferred honest fear to the illusions of desire and comfort he usually paid for. He kissed her hair. “Go back to sleep.”

It took a while, but eventually she relaxed and drifted to sleep. It was tempting to sleep himself, but he wasn’t quite so drunk that he didn’t realize how stupid that would be. If her maids should come while he was here… Well, the stories were gruesomely detailed about the fate of Terrence Toyne, the Kingsguard who’d been caught abed with Aegon the Unworthy’s mistress. When he rose to leave, she shifted as if trying to get close, trying to keep him. He almost stayed.


End file.
